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Overview"Author of The Big Sky series, The Way West, and the screenplay for the classic Shane, among many other timeless stories of frontier mountain men, icon of Western literature A. B. ""Bud"" Guthrie Jr. brought a blazing realism to the story of the West. That realism, which astounded and even shocked some readers, came out of the depth of Guthrie's historical research and an acuity that had seldom been seen in the work of Western novelists. In Under the Big Sky, the latest in his celebrated series of biographies of Western writers, Jackson J. Benson details the life and work of this true giant on the Western literary landscape. The small Montana town that figures in several of Guthrie's books is clearly patterned after the town where he grew up, Choteau, on the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains. Benson illuminates the critical details of Guthrie's upbringing and education, the influence of his intellectually inclined father, his work as a newspaperman in Kentucky, and his time at Harvard University. Animated by the observations of friends, family, and fellow authors, this intimate account offers rare insight into the life and work of a remarkable writer and into the making of the literary West." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Jackson J. BensonPublisher: University of Nebraska Press Imprint: Bison Books Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.685kg ISBN: 9780803222861ISBN 10: 0803222866 Pages: 336 Publication Date: 01 May 2009 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: To order  Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us. Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. By George, I'm Free! 2. A Smart Aleck and a Wise Guy 3. Alone in a Small and Self-Contained City 4. Marriage, Family, and Separation 5. The First Novel and Plans for the Big One 6. The Big Break--the Nieman Fellowship 7. The Big Sky Triumph and Tracking The Way West 8. To Hollywood and Shane and the Move to Montana 9. Bucking the Myth: These Thousand Hills 10. Down in the Dumps--Drink and Divorce 11. Living with Janie and Courting Carol 12. The Old Man and the Young Woman Wed 13. Arfive, and Speaking to the Young--Earth Day 14. The Twin Lakes Imbroglio and Building the Barn 15. What Happened to Boone? 16. Fair Land, Fair Land: The End of the Trail Afterword: Fishing the Pishkun Notes and Documentation IndexReviewsAuthor of The Big Sky and the screenplay for Shane, Bud Guthrie was one of the giants of Western American storytelling. Under the Big Sky, Guthrie's biography by Jackson Benson, tells another fascinating story, that of Guthrie's life and the passions that drove him. --William Kittredge, author of Hole in the Sky and The Willow Field A welcome biography of the Western novelist and environmentalist. -Kirkus Reviews| In this caring yet objective account of the novelist's life, Jackson J. Benson uncovers the passions and demons in Guthrie's life away from the desk, lending the biography meaning for general readers as well as writers. -Washington Post | Guthrie was a man of ideas who was quick to question and eager to learn what prompted settlers to step outside the confines of their secure lives. Benson's biography follows Guthrie's own personal quest for transcendence. -ForeWord| A thorough, well-written, lively, and authoritative account of A. B. Guthrie Jr.'s life. -Richard W. Etulain, Oregon Historical Quarterly | One measure of a writer's biography is the degree to which it expands one's appreciation of the author's work and increases the pleasure of reading it. Good biographies should also give readers insight into the people being written about: why they were who they were, why they became who they became. Under the Big Sky succeeds on all counts. -Bloomsbury Review | [Under the Big Sky] is a good picture of the man overall, one whose brother Chick described as 'a smart aleck and a wise guy.' But one who gave us all an enduring history of the West through fiction. -Pete Warzel, Montana Quarterly A welcome biography of the Western novelist and environmentalist.Born in Indiana in 1901 and raised in Choteau, Mont. - which Benson (The Ox-Bow Man: A Biography of Walter Van Tilburg Clark, 2004, etc.) rightly calls the center of his writing universe - Alfred Bertram Bud Guthrie Jr. grew up in a bookish household and got ink in his blood the old-fashioned way, by hand-setting type and feeding a linotype machine. In 1926, he moved to Kentucky to work for a newspaper, eventually covering politics and, as Benson wryly notes, acquiring two requisites of an old-timey scrivener: alcoholism and cynicism. In the late '30s, Guthrie wrote his first novel, Murders at Moon Dance, which was not published until 1943 - and about which he would say, I can't say it is the worst book ever written, but I've long considered it as a contender. Better things would come with his best-known novel, The Big Sky, published in 1947 and hailed in the national press - despite some quibbles about anachronisms in his portrayal of the West at the time of the mountain men, lavishly embellished, as one reviewer wrote, with poetical foofaraw. Guthrie later went to work writing and doctoring the scripts of western movies, including Shane, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Broad fame largely eluded him, but he earned a local reputation in the environs of Missoula, Mont., for being a barfly. Involvement with local conservation issues and the university rehabilitated that reputation in time. Toward the end of his life, he would assert, Thomas Jefferson once swore enmity against any tyranny over the mind of man. I have sworn opposition to abusers of the land. Benson offers a sympathetic, well-written portrait that is long on the life but a little short on the literature - which is perhaps understandable, since Guthrie is little read these days. A worthy treatment of an interesting subject, which, one hopes, will inspire renewed interest in Guthrie's body of work. (Kirkus Reviews) In this caring yet objective account of the novelist's life, Jackson J. Benson uncovers the passions and demons in Guthrie's life away from the desk, lending the biography meaning for general readers as well as writers. -Washington Post Washington Post A welcome biography of the Western novelist and environmentalist. -Kirkus Reviews Kirkus Reviews Guthrie was a man of ideas who was quick to question and eager to learn what prompted settlers to step outside the confines of their secure lives. Benson's biography follows Guthrie's own personal quest for transcendence. -ForeWord ForeWord One measure of a writer's biography is the degree to which it expands one's appreciation of the author's work and increases the pleasure of reading it. Good biographies should also give readers insight into the people being written about: why they were who they were, why they became who they became. Under the Big Sky succeeds on all counts. -Bloomsbury Review Bloomsbury Review A thorough, well-written, lively, and authoritative account of A. B. Guthrie Jr.'s life. -Richard W. Etulain, Oregon Historical Quarterly -- Richard W. Etulain Oregon Historical Quarterly [Under the Big Sky] is a good picture of the man overall, one whose brother Chick described as 'a smart aleck and a wise guy.' But one who gave us all an enduring history of the West through fiction. -Pete Warzel, Montana Quarterly -- Pete Warzel Montana Quarterly Author InformationJackson J. Benson is an emeritus professor of American literature at San Diego State University and the author of ten books. Among them are five biographies of Western writers, including The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer, which won the PEN USA award for nonfiction, and Wallace Stegner: His Life and Work, which won the Evans Biography Award, and is available in a Bison Books edition. He and his wife live part of the year in La Mesa, California, and part in a cabin in the Sierras. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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